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Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Calculations Using PythonⓇ
Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Calculations Using PythonⓇ

Jeffrey J. Heys
Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana, USA
This edition first published 2017
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Heys, Jeffrey J., 1974- author.
®
Title: Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Calculations Using Python / Jeffrey J. Heys.
Description: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016039763| ISBN 9781119267065 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119267072
(epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Engineering mathematics. | Python (Computer program language)
Classification: LCC TA330 .H49 2017 | DDC 620.00285/5133–dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016039763
Cover design by Wiley
Cover image: © lvcandy/Getty Images, Inc.
Set in 10/12pt, Warnock by SPi Global, Chennai, India
Printed in United States
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 v

Contents

Preface xi
About the Companion Website xv

1 Problem Solving in Engineering 1

1.1 Equation Identification and Categorization 4
1.1.1 Algebraic versus Differential Equations 4
1.1.2 Linear versus Nonlinear Equations 5
1.1.3 Ordinary versus Partial Differential Equations 6
1.1.4 Interpolation versus Regression 8
Problems 10
Additional Resources 11
References 11

2 Programming with Python 12

2.1 Why Python? 12
2.1.1 Compiled versus Interpreted Computer Languages 13
2.1.2 A Note on Python Versions 14
2.2 Getting Python 15
2.2.1 Installation of Python 17
2.2.2 Alternative to Installation: SageMathCloud 18
2.3 Python Variables and Operators 19
2.3.1 Updating Variables 21
2.3.2 Containers 23
2.4 External Libraries 25
2.4.1 Finding Documentation 27
Problems 28
Additional Resources 29
References 30

3 Programming Basics 31
3.1 Comparators and Conditionals 31
3.2 Iterators and Loops 34
vi Contents

3.2.1 Indentation Style 39

3.3 Functions 39
3.3.1 Pizza Example 43
3.3.2 Print Function 44
3.4 Debugging or Fixing Errors 45
3.5 Top 10+ Python Error Messages 45
Problems 47
Additional Resources 49
References 49

4 External Libraries for Engineering 51

4.1 Numpy Library 51
4.1.1 Array and Vector Creation 51
4.1.2 Array Operations 55
4.1.3 Getting Helping with Numpy 55
4.1.4 Numpy Mathematical Functions 56
4.1.5 Random Vectors with Numpy 57
4.1.6 Sorting and Searching 57
4.1.7 Polynomials 58
4.1.8 Loading and Saving Arrays 59
4.2 Matplotlib Library 60
4.3 Application: Gillespie Algorithm 63
Problems 66
Additional Resources 68
References 68

5 Symbolic Mathematics 70
5.1 Introduction 70
5.2 Symbolic Mathematics Packages 71
5.3 An Introduction to SymPy 72
5.3.1 Multiple Equations 75
5.4 Factoring and Expanding Functions 76
5.4.1 Equilibrium Kinetics Example 77
5.4.2 Partial Fraction Decomposition 78
5.5 Derivatives and Integrals 78
5.5.1 Reaction Example 79
5.5.2 Symbolic Integration 80
5.5.3 Reactor Sizing Example 80
5.6 Cryptography 81
Problems 83
References 86

6 Linear Systems 87
6.1 Example Problem 88
6.2 A Direct Solution Method 91
 Contents vii

6.2.1 Distillation Example 95

6.2.2 Blood Flow Network Example 95
6.2.3 Computational Cost 98
6.3 Iterative Solution Methods 100
6.3.1 Vector Norms 100
6.3.2 Jacobi Iteration 100
6.3.3 Gauss–Seidel Iteration 103
6.3.4 Relaxation Methods 105
6.3.5 Convergence of Iterative Methods 105
Problems 107
References 112

7 Regression 113
7.1 Motivation 113
7.2 Fitting Vapor Pressure Data 114
7.3 Linear Regression 115
7.3.1 Alternative Derivation of the Normal Equations 118
7.4 Nonlinear Regression 119
7.4.1 Lunar Disintegration 122
7.5 Multivariable Regression 126
7.5.1 Machine Learning 127
Problems 129
References 134

8 Nonlinear Equations 135

8.1 Introduction 135
8.2 Bisection Method 137
8.3 Newton’s Method 140
8.4 Broyden’s Method 143
8.5 Multiple Nonlinear Equations 146
8.5.1 The Point Inside a Square 149
Problems 151

9 Statistics 156
9.1 Introduction 156
9.2 Reading Data from a File 156
9.2.1 Numpy Library 157
9.2.2 CVS Library 159
9.2.3 Pandas 159
9.2.4 Parsing an Array 162
9.3 Statistical Analysis 162
9.4 Advanced Linear Regression 164
9.5 U.S. Electrical Rates Example 168
Problems 172
References 175
viii Contents

10 Numerical Differentiation and Integration 176

10.1 Introduction 176
10.2 Numerical Differentiation 176
10.2.1 First Derivative Approximation 177
10.2.2 Second Derivative Approximation 180
10.2.3 Scipy Derivative Approximation 181
10.3 Numerical Integration 183
10.3.1 Trapezoid Rule 185
10.3.2 Numerical Integration Using Scipy 186
10.3.3 Error Function 187
Problems 190
References 192

11 Initial Value Problems 193

11.1 Introduction 193
11.2 Biochemical Reactors 193
11.3 Forward Euler 195
11.4 Modified Euler Method 198
11.5 Systems of Equations 199
11.5.1 The Lorenz System and Chaotic Solutions 200
11.5.2 Second-Order Initial Value Problems 203
11.6 Stiff Differential Equations 203
Problems 206
References 210

12 Boundary Value Problems 211

12.1 Introduction 211
12.2 Shooting Method 212
12.3 Finite Difference Method 216
12.3.1 Reactions in Spherical Catalysts 220
Problems 224
References 226

13 Partial Differential Equations 227

13.1 Finite Difference Method for Steady-State
PDEs 227
13.1.1 Setup 228
13.1.2 Matrix Assembly 230
13.1.3 Solving and Plotting 232
13.2 Convection 233
13.3 Finite Difference Method for Transient PDEs 236
Problems 241
References 244
 Contents ix

14 Finite Element Method 245

14.1 A Warning 245
14.2 Why FEM? 246
14.3 Laplace’s Equation 246
14.3.1 The Mesh 246
14.3.2 Discretization 247
14.3.3 Wait! Why Are We Doing This? 248
14.3.4 FEniCS Implementation 248
14.4 Pattern Formation 249
Additional Resources 253
References 254

Index 255
 xi

Preface

Computers have become a powerful tool in the field of engineering. Before

the widespread availability of computers, mathematical models of engineering
problems needed to be simplified to the point that the calculations could
be reliably performed by a single individual using a calculator or slide rule,
and, fortunately, for many engineering problems, simplified models were
adequate. However, as process complexity and engineering design complexity
increased, engineers increasingly turned to computers for help in managing
and automating the large number of calculations required.
The computational tools used by engineers have evolved considerably over
the past few decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, computers were not widely
available, and they were a specialized tool that was operated by highly trained
individuals. In the 1980s and 1990s, computers became widely available, but the
engineering software and computational tools were relatively simple compared
to what is available in the twenty-first century. The individual that was using
the computer general understood the calculations that were being performed,
and the computer was primarily a tool for automating those calculations. Many
engineering students during this time learned to program in either FORTRAN
or C, and the programs written by engineers were frequently limited to a
few hundred lines of code. More specialized and easier to use programming
environments like MATLAB and IDL were also developed during the 1980s,
and they usually helped to decrease the time required to write a computer
algorithm, but they increased the time required to execute or run the algorithm.
The trend toward greater specialization and ease of use in computational
tools continued in the twenty-first century. The various fields of engineering
saw an exponential increase in powerful and easy-to-use tools like AutoCAD,
SolidWorks, ANSYS, and Aspen. (Clearly, it is a good idea to choose a name
for your software that begins with “A” so it appears first alphabetically.) The
individual that uses these software packages may have some understanding
of the calculations that are being performed, but they almost never fully
understand the calculations and in some cases have no understanding of the
mathematics that is being performed by the computer. Today, engineering
students are typically taught to use multiple computational software packages
xii Preface

during the typical undergraduate education. The irony of this situation is that
students often do not understand the calculation being performed by the
software – they do not know the limitations of the mathematical models, they
do not know the expected accuracy of the approximate solution, and they
do not always have the intuition necessary to recognize a highly incorrect
result. Another loss associated with the rise of specialized software tools for
engineers is that it is often very difficult to find a computational tool for a new
problem. The software often works well for the limited range of problems for
which it was designed, but, if an engineer wishes to analyze something new or
include some change that takes the problem just beyond the range of problems
for which the software was design, that engineer is often “out of luck” because
no computational tool is available to help.
I do not advocate abandoning modern engineering software. I do not
advocate returning to the use of custom FORTRAN computer codes for every
problem. I do advocate that engineering students get some experience writing
short computer programs. This experience teaches one to think precisely as
computers are notoriously unforgiving when we make mistakes in our logic. It
teaches one to decompose a complex process down into small, individual steps.
This experience teaches one to develop a unique solution for a new problem
that is not handled well by existing software. Finally, the experience of creating
a computer algorithm helps to develop a recognition of when computations
are likely to be reliable and when they are not – when the computational
solution is sufficiently accurate and when it is not.
The goal of this book is to provide the reader with an understanding of
standard computational methods for approximating the solution to common
problems in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. The book does not have a
comprehensive coverage of computational methods, but it is instead intended
to provide the introductory coverage necessary to understand the most com-
monly used algorithms. The computer language used to explore the different
computational methods is Python. The advantages of using Python include
its wide and growing popularity, large library of existing algorithms, and its
licensing as free, open source software. The final and possibly greatest advan-
tage in using Python is that it is easy to learn to write general computational
algorithms and more specialized numerical algorithms are also easy to write,
thanks to the NumPy and SciPy libraries. By the end of this book, the reader
should have a solid understanding of how to write and use computational
algorithms in Python to solve common mathematical problems in Chemical
and Biomedical Engineering.
The course that motivated the creation of this textbook is one semester
of approximately 15 weeks. It is my belief that most of this material can be
covered in that length of time. Each chapter in the textbook covers a different
topic and the book was constructed so that the material in that chapter could
be covered in approximately 1 week. There are, of course, some exceptions.
The large number of topics and short amount of time associated with a single
 Preface xiii

semester may encourage instructors using this book to consider a slightly

different format than the traditional lecture format. For example, if two class
times per week are available, an instructor may want to consider requiring
students to read the book or watch an online lecture that presents the material
to be covered before coming to the first class meeting time each week. The
two class periods could then be used to cover example problems (the first
class each week) and a “working class” could be used for the second class
meeting of the week. When students are trying to complete the homework,
they often need support to overcome a difficult error message or unexpected
and unphysical numerical answer from the computer, and allowing students
to work on problems for one class time per week is often very beneficial.
Suggested homework problems are included at the end of each chapter.
Many of the homework problems are written so that the person answering the
problem must respond to a request from a real or hypothetical organization
such as a company or government agency. The author of this book typically
assigns one or two problems per week and requires students to submit their
solutions in the form of a memo to the organization that posed the problem.
The memo typically is about 1 page of text plus 1–3 figures for a total of 2 or 3
pages for the main body of the memo, and the Python code is included by the
student in an appendix with the memo. Requiring students to practice techni-
cal writing is a benefit of using this approach, and many students are motivated
when the problems have more of a “real world” flavor and are less abstract.
In closing, I would like to offer my sincerest thanks and gratitude to the
many unnamed individuals that have contributed to building Python and
making scientific computing using Python such a wonderful reality. To me, it
is really humbling and encouraging to see the great work that these individuals
have freely given to the world. I would like to single out two individuals by
name because of the transformative impact of their work – without their
work, I would never have started using Python as extensively as I do, and this
book would never have been written. The first individual is Travis Oliphant,
the primary creator of NumPy and the founder of Continuum Analytics,
which produces the Anaconda Python Distribution. The second individual is
Fernando Perez, a physicist, creator of iPython, and, most importantly to me,
the person that came into my office at the University of Colorado at Boulder and
told me that I should try learning Python because it made programming fun!

Bozeman, Montana Jeffrey J. Heys

July 15, 2016
 xv

About the Companion Website

This book is accompanied by a companion website:

www.wiley.com/go/heys/engineeringcalculations_python

The website includes:

• Python Computer Codes.
 1

Problem Solving in Engineering

In chemical and biological engineering, students find that the sequence of steps
outlined in Figure 1.1 is an effective problem-solving approach for the vast
majority of the problems they encounter.
In most courses, students practice all the steps outlined in Figure 1.1, but
the focus is usually on the construction of the system diagram and developing
the mathematical equations for every unique type of process that is described
in a particular course. Only limited attention is usually given to solving
the mathematical equations that arise in a particular course because the
assumption is that the student should have learned how to do that in their
mathematics courses or some other course. Many engineering curricula have
a course that is focused on the use of computers to solve the many different
types of equations that arise in a student’s engineering courses. The focus of
this textbook is just “using computers to solve the equation(s) that students
typically encounter throughout the engineering curriculum.”
The timing of a course on computational or numerical methods for solving
engineering problems varies considerably from one curriculum to the next.
One approach is to schedule the course near the end of the curriculum. As
an upper level course, students are able to review most of the engineering
principles and mathematics that they learned previously and develop a new
set of tools (specifically, computational tools) for solving those same problems.
Two disadvantages are associated with this approach. First, students do not
have the computational tools when they first learn a new engineering principle,
which limits the scope of problems they can solve to problems that can be
largely solved without a computer (i.e., problems that can be solved with paper
and pencil). The second disadvantage is that the third and fourth years of many
engineering curricula are already filled with other required courses and it is
difficult to find time for yet another course.
A second approach is to schedule the computational methods course early in
the curriculum, before students have taken most of the engineering courses in
which they learn to derive, construct, and identify the mathematical equations
they need to solve and that sometime require a computational approach.
There are also two problems with this approach. First, the students have

®
Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Calculations Using Python , First Edition. Jeffrey J. Heys.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Companion Website: www.wiley.com/go/heys/engineeringcalculations_python
2 1 Problem Solving in Engineering

Problem System Model

Solution
statement diagram equations

Figure 1.1 Engineering problem-solving process.

typically not taken all the required mathematics courses, and, as a result, it is
difficult to teach a computational approach to solving a differential equation
when a student is not yet familiar with differential equations or techniques
for solving them. The second disadvantage is that the student has not taken
courses on separations, kinetics, transport, and so on in which they learn to
derive or identify the appropriate mathematical equation(s) for their particular
problem. It is, of course, difficult to teach a computational approach to
solving an equation when the importance or relevance of that equation is not
known.
A third approach for addressing this dilemma is to simply not teach a
stand-alone computational methods course and instead cover the relevant
computational approaches as they are needed in each individual course. We
will continue our listing of the “top two challenges” and identify two potential
difficulties with this approach. First, instead of learning and becoming com-
fortable with two or three computational tools (i.e., mathematical software
packages), students under this format often need to learn 4 or 5 computational
tools because every one of their instructors prefers a different tool, and the
students never really become proficient with any single tool. The second
difficulty is that there are a few important concepts that play a role in many
of the various computational methods, for example, rounding error, logical
operators, and accuracy, that may never be taught if there is not a single course
focused on computational methods.
This textbook, and the course that it was originally written to support, is
focused on the second approach – a course that appears in the first year or early
in the second year of an engineering curriculum. The main reason for adopting
this approach is simply the belief that it is critical for students to understand
both the potential power and flexibility of computational methods and also the
important limitations of these methods before using them to solve problems in
engineering. For a student to use a computational tool in a course and blindly
trust that tool because they do not understand the algorithms behind the tool
is probably more destructive than never learning the tool at all. Further, to limit
a student to only problems that can be solved with paper and pencil for most of
their undergraduate education is similarly unacceptable. Addressing the lim-
itations associated with teaching computational methods before most of the
fundamental engineering and some mathematics courses is difficult. The basic
strategy employed by this book is to teach students to recognize the type of
 1 Problem Solving in Engineering 3

mathematical equation they need to solve, and, once they know the type of
equation, they can take advantage of the appropriate computational approach
that is presented here (or, more likely, refer back to this book for the appropriate
algorithm for their particular equation).
There is a second, and possibly more important, reason for learning this
material early in the engineering education process. It is related to the fact that
one of the most difficult skills for many science, engineering, and mathematics
students to master is the ability to combine a number of small, simple pieces
together into a more complex framework. In most science, engineering, and
mathematics courses in high school and early in college, students learn to
find the right equation to solve the question they are asked to answer. Most
problems can be completed in one or two steps. Problems in later courses, on
the other hand, can often require 5–10 or more steps and can require multiple
pages of equations and mathematics to solve. This transition from small
problems that only require a few lines to large problems that require a few
pages can be very challenging for many science, engineering, and mathematics
students. I believe that programming in general, and numerical computations,
in particular, can be a great way to develop the skills associated with solving
larger problems. Programming requires one to combine a number of simple
logical commands and variables together into a more complex framework.
Programming develops the parts of our brains that allow us to synthesize a
number of smaller pieces into a much larger whole. A good analogy is building
something complex (e.g., the Death Star) with LEGO bricks. This process
requires one to properly and carefully combine a number of simple pieces into
a much larger structure. The entire process requires one to simultaneously
think on both the large scale (“What is my design objective?”) and the small
scale (“Will these two pieces stay connected? Are they compatible?”). This skill
is necessary for both programming and engineering. It is a skill that almost
everyone is capable of developing, but it takes practice – so, we might as well
start early!
This textbook advocates that students develop the following skills: (1) rec-
ognize the type of mathematical equation that needs to be solved – algebraic
or differential? linear or nonlinear? interpolation or regression? ordinary or
partial differential equation (PDE)?, and (2) select and implement the appro-
priate algorithm. If students are able to develop these two skills, they will be
equipped with a set of tools that will serve them well in their later engineering
courses. These tools can be used by a student to check their work, even when
they are primarily using paper and pencil to solve a problem. It is not optimal
that students learn how to approximately solve mathematical equations before
they know why the equation is relevant, but every effort is made in this book
to at least try and explain the relevance of equations when possible.
4 1 Problem Solving in Engineering

1.1 Equation Identification and Categorization

We identified two categories of skills that we wish to develop throughout this
book: (1) recognizing the type of mathematical equation(s) and (2) selecting
and implementing an appropriate computational method. The first skill will be
covered in this chapter and then the remainder of the book is for developing
the second set of skills.

1.1.1 Algebraic versus Differential Equations

The distinction between algebraic and differential equations is trivial – a
differential equation is a relationship between the derivatives of a variable and
some function. Differential equations described the rate of change of a variable;
typically the rate of change with respect to space or time. Equations can have
both independent and dependent variables. It is usually simplest to identify the
dependent variables because their value depends on the value of another vari-
able. For example, in both 𝑣(t) = 2𝜋 + t 2 and dvdt
= 3 + 𝑣 ⋅ t, 𝑣 is the dependent
variable because its value depends on the value of t and t is the independent
variable. There can be multiple independent variables, for example, multiple
spatial dimensions and time, and the value of dependent variable may depended
on the value of all independent variables. The density of air, for example, varies
with location: latitude, longitude, and elevation above sea level, as well as time.
Therefore, if we have an equation that describes the density of air as a function
of location and time, then, in that equation, density is the dependent variable
and location and time are the independent variables. Similarly, the ideal gas
P
law can be used to calculate the density of air: 𝜌(P, T) = R⋅T . For this equation,
𝜌 is a function of temperature and pressure, so 𝜌 is the dependent variable and
P and T are the independent variables. Alternatively, this equation could be
seen such that pressure, P, is the dependent variable that depends on density,
𝜌, and temperature, T, that is, P(𝜌, T) = 𝜌 ⋅ R ⋅ T.
For differential equations, there are three different notation styles that are
commonly used for derivatives.
Leibniz notation The derivative of the function, f (x), with respect to x is
written as
df
dx
and the second derivative is written:
d2 f
.
dx2
The partial derivative of f (x, y) with respect to x is
𝜕f
.
𝜕x
 1.1 Equation Identification and Categorization 5

Lagrange notation The derivative of the function, f (x), with respect to x is

written:
f ′ (x)
and the second derivative is written:
f ′′ (x).
The notation is not easily extended to partial derivatives and there is no
universal standard, but one style that is used is to switch from the prime
mark, ′ , to a subscript so that the partial derivative of f (x, y) with respect to
x is
fx .
Euler notation The derivative of the function, f (x), with respect to x is written:
D f
and the second derivative is written:
D2 f .
The partial derivative of f (x, y) with respect to x is
Dx f .
In summary, differential equations have at least one derivative and algebraic
equations do not. The presence of a derivative has a significant impact on the
computational method used for solving the problem of interest.

1.1.2 Linear versus Nonlinear Equations

A linear function, f (x), is one that satisfies both of the following properties:
additivity: f (x + y) = f (x) + f (y).
homogeneity: f (c ⋅ x) = cf (x).
In practice, this means that the dependent variables cannot appear in
polynomials of degree two or higher (i.e., f (x) = x2 is nonlinear because
(x + y)2 ≠ x2 + y2 ), in nonlinear arguments within the function (i.e.,
f (x) = x + sin(x) is nonlinear because sin(x + y) ≠ sin(x) + sin(y)), or as
products of each other (i.e., f (x, y) = x + xy is nonlinear).
For algebraic equations, it is typically straightforward to solve linear systems
of equations, even very large systems consisting of millions of equations and
millions of unknowns. Two different methods for solving linear systems of
equations will be covered in Chapter 6. Nonlinear algebraic equations can
sometimes be solved exactly using techniques learned in algebra or using
symbolic mathematics algorithms, especially when there is only a single
equation. However, if we have more than one nonlinear equation or even a
single, particularly complex nonlinear algebraic equation (or if we are simply
6 1 Problem Solving in Engineering

feeling a little lazy), we may need to take advantage of a computational

technique to try and find an approximate solution. Algorithms for solving
nonlinear algebraic equations are described in Chapter 8.
It is important to note that the distinction between linear and nonlinear
equations can also be extended to differential equations and all of the
2
same principles apply. For example, dc dt
= 4c and ddt2c = 2 sin(𝜋t) are linear
while dc
dt
= c2 is nonlinear. In some cases, the nonlinearity will not significantly
increase the computational challenge, but, in other cases like the Navier–Stokes
equations, the nonlinearity can significantly increase the difficulty in obtaining
even an approximate solution.

Linear versus Nonlinear Examples

Linear:
1
• single linear equation: 5 ⋅ x + 3
=x
• linear system of equations:
y
3 ⋅ x + = 10
4
x = 6 ⋅ y.
Nonlinear:
√
• single nonlinear equation: 5 ⋅ x − 13 = x
• single nonlinear equation: x2 − 8 ⋅ x − 9 = 0
• nonlinear system of equations:
y
3 ⋅ x ⋅ y + = 10
4
x−6⋅y=0
• nonlinear system of equations:
x+y=4
log(x) − 7 ⋅ y = 0.

1.1.3 Ordinary versus Partial Differential Equations

An ordinary differential equation (ODE) has a single independent variable. For
example, if a differential equation only has derivatives with respect to time, t,
or a single spatial dimension, x, it is an ODE. A differential equation with two
or more independent variables is a PDE. The following are examples of ODEs.
dp d2 p
t⋅ + 2 = sin(t) (linear, second-order ODE).
dt dt
If you have not taken a differential equations course, this equation may look
a little intimidating or confusing. To solve this equation, we need to find a
 1.1 Equation Identification and Categorization 7

function p(t) where the first derivative of the function, multiplied by t, plus the
second derivative of the function is equal to sin(t). If that sounds difficult, do
not worry, by the end of this textbook, you will know how to get an approximate
solution, that is, a numerical approximation of the function p(t). It is also impor-
tant to emphasize that multiplying the dependent variable p by the independent
variable t did not make the equation nonlinear. A nonlinearity only arises if, for
example, p is multiplied by itself.
dx
= x2 + 3 cos(t) (nonlinear, first-order ODE).
dt
Again, if you have not had a differential equations course, solving this
equation requires finding a function x(t) that has a derivative equal to (x(t))2
plus 3 cos(t). Do not worry if that makes your head spin, we will also cover the
solution of this class of problems.
Some examples of PDEs are included below.
𝜕T 𝜕2T
= 𝛼 2 (linear, second-order PDE).
𝜕t 𝜕x
This is an equation that describes unsteady, conductive heat transport in one
spatial dimension. You could use this equation to describe, for example, the
warming of the ground when the sun comes up in the morning, among many
other examples. Solving this equation requires finding a function T(x, t) of both
time t and space x where the first derivative with respect to time is equal to 𝛼
times the second derivative with respect to space.
𝜕m 𝜕m
m + = 0 (nonlinear, first-order PDE).
𝜕x 𝜕y
By now it is probably obvious that the standard mathematical convention is
to use 𝜕 for derivatives in a PDE while ODEs use d. The order of the equation
is determined by the order of the highest derivative.

Solving a Differential Equation

Even though you may not have taken a differential equations course, you might
be able to solve a simplified version of the first ODE example. Try to solve
d2 p
= sin(t).
dt 2
Notice that we have eliminated the difficult term with t multiplied by the first
derivative. Let us start by integrating both sides of the equation with respect
to t:
( )
d dp
dt = sin(t)dt.
∫ dt dt ∫

(Continued)
8 1 Problem Solving in Engineering

Solving a Differential Equation (Continued)

Recalling that an integral is just an antiderivative, we get

dp
+ c1 = − cos(t) + c2 .
dt
The two constants of integration can simply be combined into a single
constant, c0 , which can be placed on the right-hand side giving:
dp
= − cos(t) + c0 .
dt
Now, let us integrate both sides once more with respect to t:
p(t) + c3 = − sin(t) + c0 t + c4 ,
which we can simplify once again by combining the two new constants of
integration to a single constant c, to give
p(t) = − sin(t) + c0 t + c.
In order to fully determine our unknown function p(t), we need two additional
conditions to solve for the value of our two remaining unknown constants, c0
and c. Typically, this additional information would be initial conditions, that is,
dp
the value of p when t = 0, and the value of dt at t = 0.
It is always a good idea to check the solution to your problem by substituting
p(t) back into the original differential equation and checking to make sure that
the left side (i.e., the second derivate of p(t)) is equal to the right-hand side.

1.1.4 Interpolation versus Regression

Within engineering, it is often necessary to obtain an equation, usually a

polynomial equation, that “fits” a given set of data. If we want an equation
that exactly matches the data, then we must interpolate the data so that we
obtain a function (e.g., a polynomial) that has the same value as the data for
a given value of the independent variable (Figure 1.2). In order to determine
an interpolant, the number of adjustable parameters that we determine in
the equation must equal the number of data points. For example, if we want
to interpolate three data points, we must use an equation that has three
adjustable parameters, such as a quadratic polynomial, ax2 + bx + c.
In practice, it is actually pretty rare that we want to exactly interpolate a
given set of data because we hopefully have a large amount of data (and we
do not want to use a very high-order polynomial) and that data contains some
amount of error. In most cases, we want to approximately fit our data with an
equation of some form (Figure 1.3). In order to do this, we must first decide
 1.1 Equation Identification and Categorization 9

Figure 1.2 An example of interpolation for a set of

y
data. The data is usually represented using points
(circles) and the interpolant function is usually
represented using a line.

y y

x x

(a) (b)

Figure 1.3 An example of linear (a) regression and nonlinear (b) regression for a set of data.

how we want to measure the “goodness” of a fit. Maybe we want to fit an

equation so that the sum of the distances from the best fit equation to each
and every point is minimized. Another option (the option that is almost always
selected) is to minimize the sum of the square of the distance between every
data point and the “best” fit approximation. This is the so- called least-squares
regression approach. The function that gives us the best fit based on our
chosen criteria is called the regression function and the process of determining
the regression function is called regression analysis. The most popular type
of regression, linear regression (Figure 1.3) using least-squares, and nonlinear
polynomial regression are both covered in Chapter 7.
10 1 Problem Solving in Engineering

Problems
1.1 Determine the type (linear or nonlinear) of algebraic equation assuming
x, y, and z are unknown variables:
a) x2 + y2 =√1.0
b) x + y = 2
c) y = 2 ⋅ sin(x)
d) x + y + z2 = 0

1.2 Determine the type (linear or nonlinear; ordinary or PDE) of differential

equation assuming that z, x, and t are independent variables and g, , and
k are known parameters:
d2 y
a) = −g (Newton’s first law)
dt 2 ( )
𝜕CA 𝜕C 𝜕C
b) + 𝑣 ⋅ 𝜕zA + kCA = 𝜕z𝜕  𝜕zA
𝜕t
′
c) f (x) = sin(x) + 4

1.3 If you want to determine the polynomial that interpolates 6 data points,
what is the minimum order polynomial that is required? Write the poly-
nomial with x as the independent variable and a, b, c, … as the unknown
coefficients.

1.4 You are asked to use regression to determine the best linear polynomial fit
for a given set of data. A colleague encourages you to determine the best
fit by minimizing the sum of the distance between each point and the line
instead of minimizing the sum of the square of the distance, which is the
standard practice. The colleague claims that this will reduce the influence
of a few outlying data points. Is the colleague correct?

1.5 You have been hired to produce an exact replacement part for a classic
Porsche because the part is no longer available. Another engineer collects
precise measurements of the location of a number of points on the surface
of the part. You need to produce a new part with corresponding points at
the same locations. Before machining the new part, you need to develop
a continuous function that fits the measurement points because the con-
tinuous function will provide a representation of the surface connecting
the points. Should you develop the continuous function using regression
or interpolation between the precisely measured locations on the surface
of the part? Why?

1.6 While studying a particular system, you collect some data on a measur-
able variable (y) versus an adjustable variable (x). Your next task is to use
 References 11

regression to approximately fit the data with a continuous mathemati-

cal function. Most engineers would start by trying to fit the data with a
polynomial. You are not like most engineers because you wisely start by
plotting the data. While examining the plot, you notice that the data has a
pattern that is repeated as the adjustable variable is continuously changed.
The measured variable increases and decreases regularly as the adjustable
variable is increased. Should you fit this data with a polynomial? If so, what
order polynomial? If not, what function(s) would you use instead?

Additional Resources
An understanding of how to solve differential equation problems is not required
for understanding the material in this book. However, an ability to classify or
recognize the type of equation that one is trying to solve is required. Most
differential equation textbooks include a comprehensive set of definitions that
enable the classification of mathematical equations. Some popular differential
equation textbooks for engineers are:
• Differential Equations for Engineers and Scientists by Çengel and Palm [1]
• Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Zill and Cullen [2]
• Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Kreyszig [3]
and a helpful resource for data plotting and regression using Microsoft Excel is:
• Engineering with Excel by Larsen [4].

References
1 Çengel, Y. and Palm, W. III (2013) Differential Equations for Engineers and
Scientists, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1st edn.
2 Zill, D. and Cullen, M. (2006) Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Jones and
Barlett, Sudbury, MA, 3rd edn.
3 Kreyszig, E. (2011) Advanced Engineering Mathematics, John Wiley and Sons,
Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 10th edn.
4 Larsen, R.W. (2009) Engineering with Excel, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper
Saddle River, NJ, 3rd edn.
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Now, that Christ did die for the elect, Scripture distinctly teaches in
manifold places. He died for the elect nation of Israel, and for the
elect Church of God—the bride of Christ. But Scripture teaches more
than this. It declares that "He died for all" (2 Cor. v. 14); that "He
tasted death for every man" (Heb. ii. 9). There is no need whatever
for seeking to avoid the plain force and meaning of these and
kindred statements of inspiration. And further, we believe it to be
quite wrong to add our own words to God's words in order to
reconcile them with any particular system of doctrine. When
Scripture affirms that Christ died for all, we have no right to add the
words, "the elect." And when Scripture states that Christ "tasted
death for every man," we have no right to say, "every elect man." It
is our place to take God's word as it stands, and reverently bow to
its authoritative teaching in all things. We can no more systematize
God's word than we can systematize God Himself. His word, His
heart and His nature, are quite too deep and comprehensive to be
included within the limits of the very broadest and best constructed
human system of theology that was ever framed. We shall, ever and
anon, be discovering passages of Scripture which will not fall in with
our system. We must remember that God is love, and this love will
tell itself out to all without limit. True, God has His counsels, His
purposes and His decrees; but it is not these He presents to the poor
lost sinner. He will instruct and interest His saints about such things;
but to the guilty, heavy-laden sinner, He presents His love, His grace,
His mercy, His readiness to save, to pardon and to bless.
And let it be well remembered that the sinner's responsibility flows
out of what is revealed, and not out of what is secret. God's decrees
are secret; His nature, His character, Himself is revealed. The sinner
will not be judged for rejecting what he had no means of knowing.
"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil"
(John iii. 19).
We are not writing a theological treatise; but we do feel it to be a
matter of the gravest moment to press upon the reader that his
responsibility, as a sinner, is based upon the fact that the aspect of
the salvation of God, and of the atonement of Christ, is most
distinctly and decidedly "unto all," and not merely to a certain
number of the human family. The glorious message is sent forth into
all the world. Every one who hears it is invited to come. This is
grounded upon the fact that Christ has put away sin—that the blood
of atonement has been carried into the presence of God—that the
barrier which sin presented has been flung down and abolished, and
now the mighty tide of divine love can flow freely forth to the very
vilest of the sons of men.
Such is the message; and when any one through grace believes it he
can be further told that not only has Christ put away sin, but that
also He has borne his sins—the actual sins of all His people—of all
who believe in His name. The evangelist can stand up in the midst of
assembled thousands, and declare that Christ has put away sin—that
God is satisfied—that the way is open for all; and he can whisper the
same in the ear of each and every sinner under heaven. Then, when
any one has bowed down to this testimony—when the repentant,
broken-hearted, self-judged sinner receives the blessed record—he
can be further taught that his sins were all laid on Jesus, all borne
and for ever put away by Him when He died on the cross.
This is the plain doctrine of Hebrews ix. 26, 28; and we have a
striking type of it in the two goats of Leviticus xvi. If the reader will
just turn to the passage he will find there, first, the slain goat; and
secondly, the scape-goat. The blood of the slain goat was brought
into the sanctuary and sprinkled there. This was a type of Christ
putting away sin. Then the high priest, on behalf of the
congregation, confessed all their sins upon the head of the scape-
goat, and they were borne away into a land not inhabited. This was
a type of Christ bearing the sins of His people. The two goats, taken
together, give us a full view of the atonement of Christ, which, like
the righteousness of God in Romans iii., is "unto all, and upon all
them that believe."
All this is most simple. It removes many difficulties out of the way of
the earnest seeker after peace. These difficulties arise in many cases
from the conflicting dogmas of theological systems, and have no
foundation whatever in Holy Scripture. There, all is as plain and as
clear as God can make it. Each one who hears the message of God's
free love is bound, not to say invited, to receive it; and judgment
will, most assuredly, fall upon each and all who refuse or neglect the
proffered mercy. It is utterly impossible for any one who has ever
heard the gospel, or ever had the New Testament in his hand, to get
rid of the awful responsibility that rests upon him to accept God's
salvation. Not a single soul will have to say, I could not believe,
because I was not one of the elect, and did not get power to
believe. No one will ever dare to say or even to think this. If any
could take such ground, then where were the force or the meaning
of the following burning words?—"The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with the angels of His power, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. i. 7, 8). Will any one ever
be punished for not obeying the gospel if he is not responsible to
yield that obedience? Most assuredly not. "Shall not the Judge of all
the earth do right?"
But does God send His gospel to people merely to place them under
responsibility and increase their guilt? Far be the monstrous thought!
He sends His gospel to the lost sinner in order that he may be
saved, for God is not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. All, therefore, who perish shall have
none but themselves to blame.
It is of the very last importance that the reader should be
established in the knowledge and practical sense of what the
atonement of Christ has accomplished for all who simply trust in
Him. It is, we need hardly say, the only basis of peace. He has put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; and He has borne our sins in
His own body on the tree. It is, therefore, impossible that any
question as to sin or guilt can ever arise. All has been "once and for
ever" settled by the atoning death of the Lamb of God. True it is—
alas, how true!—we all have sin in us; and we have, daily and
hourly, to judge ourselves and judge our ways. It will ever hold good
of us, so long as we are in a body of sin and death, that "in me (that
is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing." But then nothing can ever
touch the question of our soul's perfect and eternal acceptance. The
conscience of the believer is as completely purged from every soil
and stain as will be the whole creation by-and-by. If it were not so,
Christ could not be where He now is. He has entered into the
presence of God, there to appear for us. This leads us in the second
place to consider.

THE ADVOCACY.

Very many souls are apt to confound two things which, though
inseparably connected, are perfectly distinct, namely, advocacy and
atonement. Not seeing the divine completeness of the atonement,
they are in a certain way looking to the advocacy to do for them
what the atonement has done. We must remember that though as
to our standing we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, yet as to the
actual fact of our condition we are in the body. We are in spirit and
by faith seated in heavenly places in Christ; but yet we are actually
in the wilderness, subject to all sorts of infirmities, liable to fail and
err in a thousand ways.
Now it is to meet our present actual state and wants that the
advocacy, or priesthood, of Christ is designed. God be praised for the
blessed provision! As those who are in the body passing through the
wilderness, we need a great High Priest to maintain the link of
communion, or to restore it when broken. Such a One we have, ever
living to make intercession for us; nor could we get on for a single
moment without Him. The work of atonement is never repeated; the
work of the Advocate is never interrupted. When once the blood of
Christ is applied to the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, the
application is never repeated. To think of a repetition is to deny its
efficacy and to reduce it to the level of the blood of bulls and goats.
No doubt people do not see this, and most assuredly they do not
mean it; but such is the real tendency of the thought of a fresh
application of the blood of sprinkling. It may be that persons who
speak in this way really mean to put honor upon the blood of Christ,
and to give expression to their own felt unworthiness; but, in truth,
the best way to put honor upon the blood of Christ is to rejoice in
what it has done for our souls; and the best way to set forth our
own unworthiness is to feel and remember that we were so vile that
nothing but the death of Christ could avail to meet our case. So vile
were we that nothing but His blood could cleanse us. So precious is
His blood that not a trace of our guilt remains. "The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin."
Thus it stands in reference to the very feeblest child of God whose
eye scans these lines. "All sins forgiven." Not a trace of guilt
remains. Jesus is in the presence of God for us. He is there as a High
Priest before God—as an Advocate with the Father. He has by His
atoning death rent the veil—put away sin—brought us nigh to God in
all the credit and virtue of His sacrifice, and now He lives to maintain
us by His advocacy in the enjoyment of the place and privileges into
which His blood has introduced us.
Hence the apostle says, "If any man sin, we have"—what? The
blood? Nay, but "an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous." The blood has done its work, and is ever before God
according to its full value in His sight. Its efficacy is ever the same.
But we have sinned; it may be only in thought; but even that
thought is quite enough to interrupt our communion. Here is where
advocacy comes in. If it were not that Jesus Christ is ever acting for
us in the sanctuary above, our faith would most assuredly fail in
moments in the which we have in any measure yielded to the voice
of our sinful nature. Thus it was with Peter in that terrible hour of his
temptation and fall: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee,
that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted (or restored),
strengthen thy brethren" (Luke xxii. 21, 32).
Let the reader note this. "I have prayed for thee, that"—What? Was
it that he might not fail? Nay, but that, having failed, his faith might
not give way. Had Christ not prayed for his poor, feeble servant, he
would have gone from bad to worse, and from worse to worst. But
the intercession of Christ procured for Peter the grace of true
repentance, self-judgment and bitter sorrow for his sin, and finally
complete restoration of his heart and conscience, so that the current
of his communion—interrupted by sin, but restored by advocacy—
might flow on as before.
Thus it is with us when, through lack of that holy vigilance which we
should ever exercise, we commit sin: Jesus goes to the Father for
us. He prays for us; and it is through the efficacy of His priestly
intercession that we are convicted and brought to self-judgment,
confession, and restoration. All is founded on the advocacy, and the
advocacy is founded on the atonement.
And here it may be well to assert, in the clearest and strongest
manner possible, that it is the sweet privilege of every believer not
to commit sin. There is no necessity whatever why he should. "My
little children," says the apostle, "these things write I unto you, that
ye sin not." This is a most precious truth for every lover of holiness.
We need not sin. Let us remember this. "Whosoever is born of God
doth not commit [or, practice] sin; for His seed remaineth in him:
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1 John iii. 9).
This is the divine idea of a Christian. Alas, we do not always realize
it! but that does not, and cannot, touch the precious truth. The
divine nature, the new man, the life of Christ in the believer, cannot
possibly sin, and it is the privilege of every believer so to walk as
that nothing but the life of Christ may be seen. The Holy Ghost
dwells in the believer on the ground of redemption, in order to give
effect to the desires of the new nature, so that the flesh may be as
though it did not exist, and nothing but Christ be seen in the
believer's life.
It is of the utmost importance that this divine idea of Christian life
should be seized and maintained. People sometimes ask the
question, Is it possible for a Christian to live without committing sin?
We reply in the language of the inspired apostle, "My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not" (1 John ii. 1). And
again, quoting the language of another inspired apostle, "How shall
we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom. vi. 2.) The
Christian is viewed by God as "dead to sin"; and hence, if he yields
to it he is practically denying his standing in a risen Christ. Alas, alas,
we do sin, and hence the apostle adds, "If any man sin, we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the
propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole
world."
This gives wonderful completeness to the work on which our souls
repose. Such is the perfect efficacy of the atonement of Christ that
we have one Advocate with us in order that we may not sin, and
another Advocate with the Father if we do sin. The word rendered
"Comforter" in John xiv. 16 is rendered "advocate" in 1 John iii. 1.
We have one divine Person caring for us here, and we have another
divine Person caring for us in heaven, and all this on the ground of
the atoning death of Christ.
Will it be said that in writing thus we furnish a license for committing
sin? God forbid! We have already declared, and would insist upon,
the blessed possibility of living in such unbroken communion with
God—of walking so in the Spirit—of being so filled and occupied with
Christ—as that the flesh, or the old nature, may not appear. This we
know is not always the case. "In many things we all offend," as
James tells us. But no right-minded person, no lover of holiness, no
spiritual Christian, could have any sympathy with those who say we
must commit sin. Thank God, it is not so. But what a mercy it is,
beloved Christian reader, to know that when we do fail there is One
at the right hand of God to restore the broken link of communion!
This He does by producing in our souls, by His Spirit who dwells in
us—that "other Advocate"—the sense of failure, and leading us into
self-judgment and true confession of the wrong, whatever it be.
We say "true confession," for it must be this if it be the fruit of the
Spirit's work in the heart. It is not lightly and flippantly saying we
have sinned, and then as lightly and flippantly sinning again. This is
most sorrowful and most dangerous. We know nothing more
hardening and demoralizing than this sort of thing. It is sure to lead
to the most disastrous consequences. We have known cases of
persons living in sin and satisfying themselves by a mere lip
confession of their sin, and then going and committing the sin again
and again; and this has gone on for months and years, until God in
His faithfulness caused the whole thing to come out openly before
others.
All this is most dreadful. It is Satan's way of hardening and deceiving
the heart. Oh that we may watch against it, and ever keep a tender
conscience! We may rest assured that when a true-hearted child of
God is betrayed into sin the Holy Ghost will produce in him such a
sense of it—will lead him into such intense self-loathing, such an
abhorrence of the evil, such thorough self-judgment in the presence
of God—as that he cannot lightly go and commit the sin again. This
we may learn from the words of the apostle when he says, "If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and"—
mark this weighty clause—"to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Here we have the precious fruit of the double advocacy. It is all
presented in its fulness in this part of the first epistle of John. If any
man sin, the blessed Paraclete on high intercedes with the Father,
pleads the full merits of His atoning work, prays for the erring one
on the ground of His having borne the judgment of that very sin.
Then the other Paraclete acts in the conscience, produces
repentance and confession, and brings the soul back into the light in
the sweet sense that the sin is forgiven, the unrighteousness
cleansed, and the communion perfectly restored. "He restoreth my
soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's
sake" (Ps. xxiii. 3).
We trust the reader will be enabled to understand this great
fundamental truth. Many, we are aware, find it difficult to reconcile
the idea of intercession with the truth of a perfect atonement. If, say
they, the atonement is perfect, what need is there of intercession? If
the believer is made as white as snow by the blood of Christ—so
white that the Spirit of God can dwell in his heart—then what does
he want of a priest? If by one offering Christ has perfected for ever
all them that are sanctified, then what need have these perfected
and sanctified ones of an advocate? Surely we must either admit the
thought of an imperfect atonement or deny the need of advocacy?
Such is the reasoning of the human mind, but such is not the faith of
Christians. Scripture does most surely teach us that the believer is
washed as white as snow; that he is accepted in the Beloved—
complete in Christ—perfectly forgiven and perfectly justified through
the death and resurrection of Christ; that he can never come into
judgment, but is passed from death unto life; that he is not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit—not in the old creation, but in the new—not a
member of the first Adam, but of the last; that he is dead to sin,
dead to the world, dead to the law, because Christ has died, and the
believer has died in Him. All this is largely unfolded and constantly
insisted upon by the inspired writers. Scores of passages might
easily be quoted in proof, were it needful.
But then there is another aspect of the Christian which must be
taken into account. He is not in the flesh as to the ground of his
standing, but he is in the body as to the fact of his condition. He is
in Christ as to his standing, but he is also in the world as to the fact
of his existence. He is surrounded by all sorts of temptations and
difficulties, and he is in himself a poor feeble creature full of
infirmities, not sufficient even to think anything as of himself. Nor is
this all. Each true Christian is ever ready to acknowledge that in him,
that is, in his flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. He is saved, thank
God, and all is eternally settled; but then he has, as a saved one, to
get through the wilderness; he has to labor to enter into God's rest,
and here it is that priesthood comes in. The object of priesthood is
not to complete the work of atonement, inasmuch as that work is as
perfect as the One who accomplished it. But we have to be carried
through the wilderness and brought into the rest that remains for
the people of God, and for this end we have a great High Priest who
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. His sympathy and
succor are ours, and we could not get on for one moment without
them. He ever liveth to make intercession for us, and by His ministry
in the heavenly sanctuary He sustains us day by day in the full credit
and value of His atoning work. He lifts us up when we fall, restores
us when we wander, repairs the link of communion when snapped
by our carelessness. In a word, He appears in the presence of God
for us, and there carries on an uninterrupted service on our behalf,
in virtue of which we are maintained in the integrity of the
relationship into which His atoning death has introduced us.
Thus much as to the atonement and advocacy. It only remains for us
to treat of the advent. We wish specially to remind the reader that in
treating of the death of Christ we have left wholly untouched one
grand point therein, namely, our death in Him.[3] This we may, if
God permit, go into on another occasion. It is immensely important
as the power of deliverance from indwelling sin as well as from this
present evil world and from the law. There are many who merely
look to the death of Christ for pardon and justification, but they do
not see the precious and emancipating truth of their having died in
Him and their deliverance in consequence from the power of sin in
them. This latter is the secret of victory over self and the world, and
of deliverance from every form of legality and mere fleshly pietism.
Thus we have glanced at two of the weighty subjects presented to
us in the closing verses of Heb. ix., namely, first, the precious
atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ in its two aspects; and
secondly, His all-prevailing advocacy at God's right hand for us. It
only remains for us to consider in the third place

HIS ADVENT,
which is here presented to us in immediate connection with those
great foundation truths which have already engaged our attention,
and which, moreover, are held and prized by all true Christians. Is it
true that Christ hath appeared in this world to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself? and to bear the sins of the many who through
grace put their trust in Him? Is it true that He has passed into the
heavens and taken His seat on the throne of God, there to appear
for us? Yes, blessed be God, these are grand, vital and fundamental
verities of the Christian faith. Well, then, it is equally true that He
shall appear again, apart from the question of sin, unto salvation.
"As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and
unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time apart
from sin unto salvation."
Here, then, we have the matter most definitely stated. As truly as
Christ hath appeared on this earth—as truly as He lay in the manger
of Bethlehem—was baptized in the waters of Jordan—was anointed
with the Holy Ghost—was tempted of the devil in the wilderness—
went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil—groaned, and wept, and prayed in Gethsemane—hung upon
Calvary's accursed tree, and died, the Just for the unjust—was laid in
the dark, silent tomb—rose victorious on the third day—ascended
into the heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for His
people—so truly shall He appear ere long in the clouds of heaven to
receive His people to Himself. If we refuse one we must refuse all. If
we question one we must question all. If we are unsettled as to one
we must be unsettled as to all, inasmuch as all rest upon precisely
the same basis, namely, the Holy Scriptures. How do I know that
Jesus hath appeared? Because Scripture tells me so. How do I know
that He doth appear? Because Scripture tells me so. How do I know
that He shall appear? Because Scripture tells me so.
In a word, then, the doctrine of the atonement, the doctrine of the
advocacy, and the doctrine of the advent all rest on one and the
same irrefragible foundation, namely, the simple declaration of the
word of God, so that if we receive one we must receive all.
How is it then that while the Church of God in all ages has held and
prized the doctrines of atonement and advocacy, she has practically
lost sight of the doctrine of the advent? How comes it to pass that
while the first two are regarded as essential, the last is deemed non-
essential? Nay, we may go further and say, how is it that while a
man who does not hold the first two is regarded as a heretic, and
justly so, yet the man who holds the last is by many regarded as
hardly sound in the faith or bringing in strange doctrine?
What answer can we give to these questions? Alas! alas! the Church
has ceased to look for her Lord. Atonement and advocacy are held
because they concern us; but the advent has been virtually let slip,
although it so deeply concerns Him. It is due to the One who
suffered and died on this earth that He should reign; to the One who
wore a crown of thorns that He should wear a crown of glory; to the
One who humbled Himself to the very dust of death that He should
be exalted and that every knee should yet bow before Him.
Most surely this is so; and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ will see to it and bring it to pass in His own appointed time.
"Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy
footstool" (Ps. cx; Heb. i). The moment is rapidly approaching when
that blessed One who is now hidden from the eyes of men shall
appear in glory. Every eye shall see Him. As surely as He hung upon
the cross and is now seated on the throne, so surely shall He appear
in glory.
Reader, seeing these things are so, art thou among the number of
"those that look for Him?" This is a solemn question. There are those
who look for Him and there are those who do not. Now it is to the
former that He shall appear unto salvation. He will come and receive
His people unto Himself, that where He is, there they may be also
(John xiv). These are His own loving words, spoken at the moment
of His departure for the solace and comfort of His sorrowing
disciples. He counted on their being troubled at the thought of His
leaving them, and He seeks to comfort them by the assurance of His
coming back. He does not say, Let not your hearts be troubled, for
you shall soon follow Me. No; but "I will come again."
This is the proper hope of the Christian. Christ is coming. Are we
ready? Are we looking for Him? Do we miss Him? Do we mourn His
absence? It is impossible that we can be in the true attitude of
waiting for Him if we do not feel His absence. He is coming. He may
be here to-night. Ere another sun arises the voice of the archangel
and the blast of the trumpet may be heard in the air. And what
then? Why then the sleeping saints—all who have departed in the
faith of Christ—all the redeemed of the Lord whose ashes repose in
the graveyards and cemeteries around us or in the mighty depths of
the ocean—all these shall rise. The living saints shall be changed in a
moment, and all shall ascend up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Cor.
xv. 51-54; 1 Thess. iv. 13-v. 11).
But what of the unconverted—the unbelieving—the unrepentant—
the unprepared? What of all such? Ah! this is a question of awful
solemnity. It makes the heart sink to reflect upon the case of those
who are still in their sins—of those who have turned a deaf ear to all
the entreaties and all the warnings which God in His long-suffering
mercy has sent to them from week to week and year to year—of
those who have sat under the sound of the gospel from their earliest
days, and who have become, as we say, gospel-hardened. How
dreadful will be the condition of all such when the Lord comes to
receive His own! They shall be left behind to fall under the deep and
dark delusion which God will assuredly send upon all who have
heard and rejected the gospel. And what then? What is to follow this
deep and dark delusion? The deeper and darker damnation of the
lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.
Oh! shall we not sound a note of alarm in the ears of our fellow-
sinners? Shall we not more earnestly and solemnly warn them to flee
from the wrath to come? Shall we not seek by word and deed—by
the double testimony of the lips and the life—to set before them the
weighty fact that "the Lord is at hand"? May we feel it more deeply,
and then we shall exhibit it more faithfully. There is immense moral
power in the truth of the Lord's coming if it be really held in the
heart and not merely in the head. If Christians only lived in the
habitual expectation of the advent it would tell amazingly upon the
unconverted around them.
May the Holy Ghost revive in the hearts of all God's people the
blessed hope of their Lord's return, that they may be as men that
wait for their Lord, that when He cometh and knocketh they may
open unto Him immediately!
 "THE TWO MUSTS."
In our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus He twice makes use of the
word "must"—a word of immense depth and moral power in both
cases. Let us ponder it for a few moments; for, though but a word of
one syllable, it contains a volume of most precious evangelical truth
in whichever light we view it.
I. And first, then, we read, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again." Here we have the total setting aside of man in
his very best estate. If I must be born again, if I must have a new
life, a new nature, then it matters not in the smallest degree what I
can or cannot boast of. Man, as born of a woman, enters this world
with the image of his fallen parent stamped upon him. Man, as he
came from the hand of his Creator, was made in the "image of God."
Man, as he issues from the womb of his mother, bears the image
and likeness of a fallen creature. Hence the force of our Lord's
expression, "Ye must be born again." It is not said, Ye must mend,
ye must try and be better, ye must alter your mode of living, ye must
turn over a new leaf. Had it been thus, Nicodemus would never have
asked, "How can these things be?" A man of the Pharisees would
have understood any or all of these things. A change of conduct, a
change of character, any moral reform, any self-improvement, is
perfectly intelligible to a Pharisee of every age; but to be told "Ye
must be born again" can only be understood by one who has
reached the end of himself and his doings; who has been brought to
see that in him, that is in his flesh, dwelleth no good thing; who sees
himself as a thorough bankrupt without a certificate, who can never
again set up on his own account. He must get a new life to which
the verdict of bankruptcy cannot apply, and he must trade in the
wealth of another, on which creditors have no possible claim.
There is immense power in this little word "must." It bears upon all
alike. It speaks to the drunkard, and says, "You must be born
again." It addresses the most rigid teetotaler, and says, "You must
be born again." It speaks to every class, to every condition, to every
grade and shade of character, to man in every rank and every clime,
to every creed and every denomination, in its own clear, emphatic,
sweeping style, and says, "You must be born again." It bears down
with far more weight upon the conscience than any appeal that
could be made on the ground of moral conduct. It does not interfere
in the least with the question of moral reform, in any one of its many
phases. It allows as broad a margin as any philanthropist or moral
reformer may desire. It does not disturb the various distinctions
which society, public opinion, law or equity has established. It leaves
all these things perfectly untouched, but it raises its clear and
commanding voice above them all, and says to the sinner—to man
as born of a woman—to the worst and to the best of men, "You
must be born again." It demands not reformation, but regeneration;
not amendment, but a new life.
II. What then, it may be asked, are we to do? Whither are we to
turn? How are we to get this new life? Our Lord's second "must"
furnishes the reply. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
This makes all plain. A second Man has entered the scene. There are
two men and two musts. As to the first man, he must be born again,
and as to the second Man, He must be lifted up. In a word, the
Cross is the grand solution of the difficulty, the divine answer to the
"How?" Am I completely struck down by the first "must"? Am I
overwhelmed by the insuperable difficulty which it proposes to me?
Am I on the very verge of despair as I contemplate the apparent
impossibility of what, nevertheless, must be? Oh then, with what
power does the second "must" fall on my heart! "The Son of man
must be lifted up." Why must He? Because I must have new life, and
this life is in the Son, but it could only be mine through His death.
The death of the second Man is the only ground of life to the first—
life to me. One look at Christ, is lifted up for me, is life eternal. The
soul that simply believes on the Son of God, as dead and risen, is
"born of water and of the Spirit;" he hath everlasting life—he is
passed from death unto life, from the old creation into the new, from
the first man to the Second, from guilt to righteousness, from
condemnation to favor, from darkness to light, from Satan to God.
May God the Spirit unfold to the reader's heart the beauty and
power, the depth, the comprehensiveness, and moral glory of the
two "musts."

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according

to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus
3: 5-7).
 THE THRONE AND THE ALTAR.
(Isa. vi. 1-8).
In this sublime passage of Scripture we notice two prominent
objects, namely, the throne and the altar; and, moreover, we
perceive the action of these two objects upon the soul of the
prophet. The entire scene is full of interest and instruction. May we
gaze upon it aright!
"In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." This was
a solemn and soul-subduing sight. It is ever a serious matter for a
sinner to find himself standing before the throne of God with the
unanswered claims of that throne bearing down upon his
conscience. Isaiah found it to be so. The light of the throne revealed
to him his true condition. And what was that light? It was the moral
glory of Christ, as we read in the Gospel of John, "These things said
Esaias, when he saw His glory, and spake of Him" (Chap. xii. 41).
Christ is the perfect standard by which every one must be measured.
It matters not what I may think of myself, nor yet what others may
think about me: the question is, What am I as viewed in the
presence of Christ? The law may tell me what I ought to be;
conscience may tell me I am not that; but it is only when the bright
beams of Christ's moral glory pour themselves around me that I am
enabled to form a just estimate of what I am. Then it is that the
hidden chambers of my heart are laid open, the secret springs of
action are revealed, the real condition is laid bare.
But perhaps my reader may ask, What do you mean by the moral
glory of Christ? I mean the light which shone forth from Him in all
His ways when He was down here in this dark world. It was this light
that detected man, that disclosed what he was, that brought to light
all that was in him. It was impossible for any one to escape the
action of that light. It was a perfect blaze of divine purity, in view of
which the seraphim could only cry out, "Holy, holy, holy!"
Need we marvel then if when Isaiah saw himself in the light of that
glory he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone"? Nay; this was the
proper utterance of one whose heart had been penetrated to its very
centre by a light which makes all things perfectly manifest.
We have no reason to suppose that Isaiah was in any respect worse
than his neighbors. We are not told that the catalogue of his sins
was heavier or darker than that of thousands around him. He may
have been to all human appearance just like others. But ah! my
reader, only remember, I pray you, where the prophet stood when
he exclaimed, "Woe is me!" It was not at the foot of the burning
mount when "the ministration of death and condemnation" was
given forth amid thunderings and lightnings, blackness, darkness
and tempest. It was not there he stood, though even there a Moses
had to say, "I exceedingly fear and quake"; but it was in the
presence of the glory of Christ, the Lord God of Israel, that our
prophet stood when he saw himself to be "unclean" and "undone."
Such was his condition when seen in the light which reveals men
and things just as they are.
"I am undone." He does not say, "Woe is me! I am not what I ought
to be." No; he saw deeper than this. He stood revealed in the power
of a light which reaches to the most profound depths of the soul and
discloses "the thoughts and intents of the heart." Isaiah had never
before seen himself in such a light—measured himself by such a rule
—weighed himself in such a balance. He now saw himself standing
in the presence of Jehovah's throne without any ability whatever to
meet the claims of that throne. He "saw Jehovah sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up." He saw himself a helpless, ruined, guilty
sinner at an immeasurable distance from that throne and from the
blessed One who sat thereon. He heard the cry of the seraphim,
"Holy, holy, holy"; and the only response which he could send back
from the depths of a broken heart was, "Unclean, unclean, unclean."
He beheld a gulf of guilt and uncleanness separating him from
Jehovah which no effort of his could ever bridge. Thus it was with
him in that solemn moment when he gave forth that cry of a truly
convicted soul, "Woe is me!" He was wholly engrossed with one
thought, namely, his own utter ruin. He felt himself a lost man. He
thought not of comparing himself with others, nor of seeking out
some fellow-sinner worse than he. Ah, no! a divinely-convicted soul
never thinks of such things. There is one grand, all-pervading idea,
and that idea is embodied in the words, "I am undone."
And be it carefully noted by the reader that the prophet when under
the convicting light of the throne is not occupied with what he had
done or left undone. The question before his soul was not as to the
evil he had done or the good he had left undone. No; it was
something far deeper than this. In a word, he was occupied not with
his acts but with his condition. He says, "I am" what? Defective in
many things? Far behind in my duty? Deplorably short of what I
ought to be? No. These and such-like confessions could never
embody the experience of a heart on which the bright beams of
Jehovah's throne had fallen in convicting power. True it is "we have
done that which we ought not to have done, and left undone that
which we ought to have done." But all this is merely the fruit of a
nature which is radically corrupt, and when divine light breaks in
upon us it will always lead us to the root. It will not merely conduct
us from leaf to leaf or from branch to branch, but passing down
along the trunk it will lay bare the hidden roots of that nature which
we inherit by birth from our first parents, and cause us to see that
the whole thing is irremediably ruined. Then it is we are constrained
to cry out, "Woe is me!" Not because my conduct has been
defective, but my nature is undone.
Thus it was that Isaiah stood before Jehovah's throne. And oh, what
a place for a sinner to stand in! There are no excuses there—no
palliating circumstances there—no qualifying clauses there—no
blaming of men or things there. There is but one object seen there—
seen in its guilt, its wretchedness and its ruin, and that object is
SELF, and as to that object the tale is easily told. It is all summed up
in that most solemn, weighty, suggestive word, "UNDONE." Yes; self is
undone. That is all that can be said about it. Do what you will with
it, and you cannot make it out to be aught but a hopeless, undone
thing; and the more speedily and thoroughly this is understood the
better.
Many take a long time to learn this foundation truth. They have not,
as it were, stood in the full blaze of the throne, and as a
consequence they have not been led to cry out with sufficient depth,
emphasis or intensity, "I am undone!" It is the glory that shines from
the throne which evokes the cry from the very depths of the soul. All
who have ever stood before that throne have given utterance to the
same confession, and it will ever be found that just in proportion to
our experience of the light of the throne will be our experience of
the grace of the altar. The two things invariably go together. In this
day of grace the throne and the altar are connected. In the day of
judgment "the great white throne" will be seen without any altar.
There will be no grace then. The ruin will then be seen without the
remedy, and as for the result, it will be eternal perdition. Awful
reality! O reader, beware of having to meet the light of the throne
without the provision of the altar!
This conducts us, naturally, to the second object in the interesting
scene before us, namely, the altar. The very moment Isaiah gave
utterance to the deep conviction of what he was, he was introduced
to the divine provisions of God's altar. "Then flew one of the
seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had
taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my
mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is
taken away, and thy sin purged."
Here, then, we have the rich provisions of Jehovah's altar, which, be
it well remembered, is seen in immediate connection with Jehovah's
throne. The two things are intimately connected in the history and
experience of every convicted and converted soul. The guilt which
the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne
one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the
light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-
sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin,
and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise.
This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Himself has
provided a remedy for all the ruin which the light of His throne has
revealed. "This hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken
away, and thy sin purged." Isaiah was brought into personal contact
with the sacrifice, and the immediate result was the perfect removal
of all his iniquity—the perfect purgation of all his sin.
Not a single spot remained. He could now stand in the light of that
throne which had just detected and exposed his uncleanness, and
know assuredly by that self-same light that not a speck of
uncleanness remained. The very same light which manifested his
sin, made manifest also the purging efficacy of the blood.
Such, then, is the precious and beautiful connection between the
throne and the altar—a connection which may be easily traced
through the inspired volume from Genesis to Revelation, and
through the history of God's redeemed from Adam down to the
present moment. All who have been really brought to Jesus have
experienced the convicting light of the throne and the peace-giving
virtues of the altar. All have been made to feel their ruin and cry out,
"I am undone!" and all have been brought into personal contact with
the sacrifice, and had their sin purged.
God's work is perfect. He convicts perfectly, and He purges perfectly.
There is nothing superficial when He carries on His mighty work. The
arrow of conviction penetrates to the very centre of the soul, only to
be followed by the divine application of that blood which leaves not
a stain upon the conscience; and the more deeply we are penetrated
by the arrow, the deeper and more settled is our experience of the
power of the blood. It is well to be thoroughly searched at the first—
well to let the chambers of the heart be fully thrown open to the
convicting action of the throne, for then we are sure to get a bolder
grasp of that precious atoning blood that speaks peace to every
believing heart.
And, my reader, let me ask you to pause here for a moment and
mark the peculiar style of the divine action in the case of the
prophet.
We all know how much depends upon the way in which a thing is
done. A person may do me a favor, but he may do it in such a style
as to do away with all the good of it.
Now in the scene before us we not only see a marvellous favor
conferred, but conferred after such a fashion as to let us into the
very secrets of the bosom of God. The divine remedy was not only
applied to Isaiah's felt ruin, but applied in such a way as to let him
know assuredly that the whole heart of God was in the application.
"Then flew one of the seraphims unto me." The rapidity of the
movement speaks volumes. It tells us distinctly of heaven's intense
desire to tranquillize the convicted conscience, bind up the broken
heart and heal the wounded spirit. The energy of divine love gave
swiftness to the seraphic messenger as he winged his way down
from Jehovah's throne to where a convicted sinner stood confessing
himself "undone." What a scene! One of those very seraphims that
with veiled face stood above Jehovah's throne crying, "Holy, holy,
holy," passes from that throne to the altar, and from the altar away
down to the deep depths of a convicted sinner's heart, there to
apply the balmy virtues of a divine sacrifice. No sooner had the
arrow from the throne wounded the heart than the seraph from the
altar "flew" to heal the wound. No sooner had the throne poured
forth its flood of living light to reveal to the prophet the blackness of
his guilt than a tide of love rolled down upon him from the altar and
bore away upon its bosom every trace of that guilt. Such is the style
—such the manner of the love of God to sinners! Who would not
trust Him?
Beloved reader, whosoever you are, in earnest desire for the welfare
of your immortal soul, permit me to ask you if you have experienced
the action of the throne and the altar? Have you ever retired from all
that false light which the enemy of your precious soul would fling
around you in order to prevent your getting a true insight into your
total ruin? Have you ever stood where Isaiah found himself when he
cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone"? Have you ever been
brought to own from your heart, "I have sinned"? (Job xxxiii.) If so,
it is your privilege to enter this moment into the rich enjoyment of
all that Christ has done for you on the cross.
You do not need to see any vision. You do not require to see a
throne, an altar, a flying seraph. You have the word of God to assure
you "Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God" (1 Pet. iii. 18). That same word also assures you
that "all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts xiii. 39).
And is not this far better than many visions or many seraphim?
Isaiah believed that his "iniquity was taken away, and his sin
purged," when the angelic messenger told him so. And should you
not believe that Jesus died for you when the word of God tells you
so?
But perhaps you say, "How can I know that Jesus died for me?" I
reply, In the way that any one may know it—simply by the word of
God. There is no other way of knowing it. But you still object, "I do
not see my name in the word of God." No; and even though your
name were mentioned this would in no wise satisfy you, inasmuch
as there might be hundreds bearing your name. But you see your
state, your character, your condition. You see your photograph flung,
with divine precision, upon the page of inspiration by the action of
that light which makes all things manifest.
Do you not own yourself to be a sinner?—a deep-dyed and ruined
sinner? If so the death of Christ applies itself as perfectly to you as
the "live coal" did to Isaiah when the seraph declared to him, "This
hath touched thy lips." The word is, "If any say I have sinned,"—
What then? He will send him to hell? No; but "he will deliver him."
The very moment you take your true place, and cry out, "Undone!"
all that Christ has done, and all that He is becomes yours—yours
now—yours for ever. You need not make any effort to improve your
condition. Do what you will, and you cannot make yourself anything
but undone. A single effort at improvement is but the evidence that
you know not yet how bad, how incurably bad you are. You are
"undone," and, as such, you have to stand still and see the salvation
of God—a salvation the foundation of which was wrought out
through the cross of Christ—a salvation which the Holy Ghost reveals
on the authority of that Word which is settled for ever in heaven,
and which God "has exalted according to all His name." May the
blessed Spirit lead you now to put your trust in the name of Jesus,
that so, ere you lay down this paper, you may know that your
"iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged"! Then you will be able
to follow me while, in a few closing words, I seek to unfold the
practical result of all that has been engaging our attention.
We have seen the complete ruin of the sinner; we have seen the
complete remedy in Christ; let us now look at the result, as exhibited
in whole-hearted consecration to the service of God. Isaiah had
nothing to do for salvation, but he had plenty to do for his Saviour.
He had nothing to do to get his sins purged, but plenty to do for the
One who had purged them. Now he gave the willing, ready
expression of obedience to God when, on hearing that a messenger
was needed, he answered, "Here am I; send me." This puts works in
their proper place. The order is absolutely perfect. No one can do
good works until he has experienced, in some degree, the action of
the "throne" and the "altar." The light of the former must shew him
what he is, and the provisions of the latter must shew him what
Christ is ere he can say, "Here am I; send me."
This is a settled, universal truth, established in every section of
inspiration, and illustrated in the biography of the saints of God and
of the servants of Christ in every age, in every condition. All have
been brought to see their ruin in the light of the throne, to see the
remedy in the provisions of the altar ere they could exhibit the result
in a life of practical devotedness. All this is from God the Father,
through God the Son, by God the Holy Ghost—to whom be all the
glory, world without end! Amen and Amen!
 LEGALITY AND LEVITY
Feeling, as we trust we do, in some little measure our responsibility
to the souls of our readers, as well as to the truth of God, we desire
to offer a brief but pointed word of warning against two opposite
evils which we can plainly see working among Christians at the
present moment. These are legality on the one hand, and levity on
the other.
As to the first of these evils, we have sought in many of our former
papers to deliver precious souls out of a legal state, as being, at
once, dishonoring to God and utterly subversive of their own peace
and liberty. We have endeavored to set forth the free grace of God,
the value of the blood of Christ, the standing of the believer before
God in perfect righteousness and acceptance in Christ. These
precious truths, when applied to the heart in the power of the Holy
Ghost, must deliver it from all legal influences.
But then it frequently happens that persons, when apparently
delivered from legality, run into the opposite evil of levity. This may
arise from the fact that the doctrines of grace are only taken up
intellectually, instead of being wrought into the soul by the power of
the Spirit of God. A great amount of evangelical truth may be taken
up in a very light way, in cases where there has been no deep work
of conscience, no real breaking down of nature, no thorough
subjugation of the flesh in the presence of God. When this is the
case there is sure to be levity of spirit in some form or another.
There will be a very wide margin allowed for worldliness of various
kinds—a liberty given to nature wholly incompatible with practical
Christianity. In addition to these things, there will be exhibited a very
deplorable want of conscience in the practical details of daily life—
duties neglected, work badly done, engagements not faithfully
observed, sacred obligations trifled with, debts contracted,
extravagant habits indulged. All these things we place under the
head of levity, and they are, alas! too common amongst the very
highest professors of what is termed evangelical truth.
Now we deeply deplore this, and would desire to have our own
souls, as well as the souls of all our Christian readers, really
exercised before God about it. We fear there is a great deal of
hollow profession amongst us, a great want of earnestness,
truthfulness and reality in our ways. We are not sufficiently
permeated by the spirit of genuine Christianity, or governed in all
things by the word of God. We do not give sufficient attention to
"the girdle of truth," or "the breastplate of righteousness." In this
way the soul gets into a very bad state indeed; conscience does not
act. The moral sensibilities become blunted. The claims of truth are
not duly responded to. Positive evil is trifled with. Moral relaxation is
allowed. So far from there being the constraining power of the love
of Christ, leading forth in the activities of goodness, there is not
even the restraining power of the fear of God keeping back from the
activities of evil.
We appeal solemnly to the consciences of our readers as to these
things. The present is a deeply solemn time for Christians. There is a
demand for earnest, deep-toned devotedness to Christ, but this
cannot possibly exist where the common claims of practical
righteousness are neglected. We must ever remember that the self-
same grace which effectually delivers the soul from legality is the
only safeguard against all levity. We have done very little for a man,
if anything at all, if we bring him out of a legal state into a light,
easy-going, careless, unconscientious condition of heart. And yet we
have frequently marked the history of souls, and noticed this sad
fact respecting them, that when they were delivered out of darkness
and bondage they became far less tender and sensitive. The flesh is
ever ready to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and
therefore it must be subdued.
It needs that the power of the Cross be applied to all that is of the
flesh. We want to mingle the "bitter herbs" with our paschal feast. In
other words, we want those deep spiritual exercises which result
from positive entrance into the power of the sufferings of Christ. We
need to meditate more profoundly upon the death of Christ—His
death as a victim under the hand of God, His death as a martyr
under the hand of man.
This, beloved reader, is at once the cure for legality and levity. The
Cross, in its double aspect, delivers from both. Christ "gave Himself
for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world,
according to the will of God and our Father" (Gal. i. 4). By the Cross
the believer is as completely delivered from this present evil world as
he is forgiven his sins. He is not saved in order that he may enjoy
the world, but that he may get done with it entirely. We know few
things more dangerous for the soul than the combination of
evangelical truth with worldliness, ease and self-indulgence—the
adoption of a certain phraseology of truth where the conscience is
not in the presence of God—a merely intellectual apprehension of
standing without any earnest dealing with the practical state—
clearness in doctrine as to title, without any conscientious reference
to the moral condition.
We trust our reader will suffer the word of exhortation. We should
deem ourselves deficient in faithfulness were we to withhold it. True,
it is not an agreeable task to call attention to practical evils—to urge
the solemn duty of self-judgment—to press upon the conscience the
claims of practical godliness. It were far more grateful to the heart
to unfold abstract truth, to dwell upon free grace and what it has
done for us, to expatiate upon the moral glories of the inspired
volume, in a word, to dwell upon the privileges which are ours in
Christ. But there are times when the true, practical condition of
things among Christians weighs heavily upon the heart and rouses
the soul to make an urgent appeal to conscience in reference to
matters of walk and conduct; and we believe the present to be such
a time. The devil is ever busy, and on the alert. The Lord has
granted much light upon His word for some years past. The gospel
has been brought out with peculiar clearness and power. Thousands
have been delivered from a legal state; and now the enemy is
seeking to hinder the testimony by leading souls into a light,
careless, carnal condition—leading them to neglect the wholesome
and indispensable exercise of self-judgment. It is the deep sense of
this that has suggested a word of warning on "Legality and Levity."

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus ii. 11-14).
The veil is rent:—our souls draw near
Unto a throne of grace;
The merits of the Lord appear,
They fill the holy place.

His precious blood has spoken there,

Before and on the throne:
And His own wounds in heaven declare,
Th' atoning work is done.

'Tis finished!—here our souls have rest,

His work can never fail:
By Him, our Sacrifice and Priest,
We pass within the veil.

Within the holiest of all,

Cleansed by His precious blood,
Before the throne we prostrate fall,
And worship Thee, O God!

Boldly the heart and voice we raise,

His blood, His name, our plea:
Assured our prayers and songs of praise
Ascend, by Christ, to Thee.
 A RISEN SAVIOUR'S CHALLENGE
(Luke xxiv.)
The period during which our blessed Lord lay in the tomb must
needs have proved a dark and bewildering moment to many of those
who looked for redemption in Israel. It would demand a calm, clear
and vigorous faith to raise the heart above the heavy clouds which
gathered just then upon the horizon of God's people, and it does not
appear that many possessed such a faith at that trying moment.
We may doubtless look upon the two disciples who travelled
together to Emmaus as illustrating the condition of many, if not all,
the beloved saints of God during the three days and three nights
that our beloved Lord lay in the heart of the earth. They were
thoroughly bewildered and at their wits' end. "They talked together
of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that,
while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew
near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they
should not know Him."
Their minds were full of surrounding circumstances. All hope seemed
gone. Their fondly cherished expectations were blasted, apparently.
The whole scene was overcast by the dark shadow of death, and
their poor hearts were sad.
But mark how the risen Saviour's challenge falls upon their drooping
spirits! "And He said unto them, What manner of communications
are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?"
Surely this was a reasonable and weighty question for those dear
disciples—a question eminently calculated to recall them, as we say,
to their senses. It was precisely what they wanted at the moment,
occupied as they were with circumstances instead of resting in the
eternal and immutable truth of God. Scripture was clear and plain
enough had they only hearkened to its voice. But instead of listening
only to the distinct testimony of the eternal Spirit in the Word they
had allowed their minds to get thoroughly down under the action
and influences of outward circumstances. Instead of standing with
firm foot on the everlasting rock of divine revelation, they were
struggling amid the billows of life's stormy ocean. In a word, they
had for a moment fallen under the power of death so far as their
minds were concerned, and no marvel if their hearts were sad and
their communications gloomy.
And, beloved reader, does it not sometimes happen that you and I in
like manner get down under the power of things seen and temporal,
instead of living by faith in the light of things unseen and eternal?
Yes, even we who profess to know and believe in a risen Saviour—
who believe that we are dead and risen with Him—who have the
Holy Ghost dwelling in us, do not we at times sink and cower? And
do we not at such moments stand in need of a risen Saviour's
challenge? Has not that precious, loving Saviour ofttimes occasion to
put the question to our hearts, "What manner of communications
are these that ye have one to another?" Does it not often happen
that when we come together or when we walk by the way our
"communications" are anything but what they ought to be? It may
be gloomily moping together over the depressing circumstances
which surround us—the weather—the prospects of the country—the
state of trade—our poor health—the difficulty of making both ends
meet—anything and everything, in short, but the right thing.
Yes, and so occupied do we become with such things that our
spiritual eyes are holden, and we do not take knowledge of the
blessed One who in His tender faithful love is at our side, and He has
to challenge our vagrant hearts with His pointed and powerful
question, "What manner of communications are these that ye have?"
Let us think of this. It really demands our consideration. We are all
far too apt to allow our minds to fall under the power and pressure
of circumstances, instead of living in the power of faith. We get
occupied with our surroundings instead of dwelling upon "things
above"—those bright and blessed realities which are ours in Christ.
And what is the result? Do we better our circumstances, or brighten
our prospects by gloomily moping over them? Not in the smallest
degree. What then? We simply make ourselves miserable and our
communications depressing; and, worst of all, we bring dishonor on
the cause of Christ.
Christians forget how much is involved in their temper, manner, look
and deportment in daily life. We forget that the Lord's glory is
intimately bound up with our daily deportments. We all know that, in
social life, we judge of the character of the head of a household by
what we see of his children and servants. If we observed the
children looking miserable and downcast, we should be disposed to
pronounce their father morose, severe and arbitrary. If we see the
servants crushed and overwrought, we consider the master hard-
hearted and grinding. In short, as a rule, you can form a tolerably
fair estimate of the head of a house by the tone, spirit, style and
manner of the members of his household.
How earnestly, then, should we seek, as members of the household
of God, to give a right impression of what He is by our temper, spirit,
style and manner! If men of the world—those with whom we come
in contact from day to day in the practical details of life—if they see
us looking sour, morose, downcast—if they hear us giving utterance
to doleful complaints about this, that and the other—if they see us
occupied about our own things—grasping, griping and driving as
hard bargains as others—if they see us grinding our servants with
heavy work, low wages and poor fare—what estimate can they form
of Him whom we call our Father and our Master in heaven?
Christian reader, let us not despise and turn away from such homely
words. Depend upon it there is need of such in this day of much
profession. There is a vast amount of intellectual traffic in truth
which leaves the conscience unreached, the heart untouched, the
life unaffected. We know we are dead and risen; but when anything
occurs to touch us, either in our persons, in our relations, or in our
interests, we speedily shew how little power that precious truth has
upon us.
May the Lord give us grace to apply our hearts very seriously and
earnestly to these things, so that there may be, in our daily course,
a more faithful exhibition of a genuine Christianity—such an
exhibition as shall glorify our own most gracious God and Father, and
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ—and such, too, as shall afford to
those who come in contact with us a fair specimen of what pure
religion really is in its action upon the entire course and character.
May we all realize more a risen Saviour's presence, and find therein
a triumphant answer to all the dark suggestions of the enemy, the
depressing reasonings of our own hearts, and the deadening
influence of surrounding circumstances. God, in His infinite mercy,
grant it, for Jesus' sake.
It is impossible to read this charming section of inspiration (Luke
xxiv.) and not be struck with what we may venture to call the
rallying power of a risen Saviour's voice and presence. We see the
dear disciples scattered hither and thither in doubt and perplexity,
fear and despondency—some running to the sepulchre; some
coming from it; some going to Emmaus, and some crowded together
at Jerusalem, in various states and conditions.
But the voice and realized presence of Jesus rallied, reassured and
encouraged them all, and brought all together around His own
blessed Person in worship, love and praise. There was an
indescribable power in His presence to meet every condition of heart
and mind. Thus it was; thus it is; thus it ever must be, blessed and
praised be His precious name! There is power in the presence of a
risen Saviour to solve our difficulties, remove our perplexities, calm
our fears, ease our burdens, dry our tears, meet our every need,
tranquillize our minds and satisfy every craving of our hearts.
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